If you read enough commentary you'll find various versions of the idea that our ruination is the result of powerful private interests driving government decisions that benefit them at our expense. Simply put, rich guys can buy votes that favor them, and only them. In some cases they augment their bribes with blackmail. 

Does the problem lie with the billionaires or government? 

One way a person can become a billionaire is by providing people with a product or service they want. As various economists have pointed out, the money people use to acquire the product or service is like a vote cast. The votes can change overnight if the entrepreneur fails to deliver what people want at a price they can afford, or if a competitor offers something people perceive as better or cheaper.

This process of voluntary production and exchange is the free market in action. But security agencies are needed to keep this process free of coercion. Traditionally, this has been government's role as a protector of fundamental rights, but government as established is supported not through the voluntary choices of customers but through the legally authorized imposition of taxes. Unlike transactions with Walmart or Amazon, people who don't pay taxes are subject to fines or incarceration.